一天晚上，一个农夫看见一个人拿着一大包东西向邻村跑去了。
第二天，农夫发现原来是自己的棉花被偷了，于是他就去找聪明的弟弟麦克商量该怎么办。
麦克想了想，然后把邻村的人都邀请过来参加舞会。
在舞会上，麦克对大家说："不好意思，昨天我哥哥的棉花被偷了，而今天小偷却自己来了。
你们看，到现在他的脸上和头发上还沾着棉花呢！
”这样一说，有一个人脸上和头发上没有沾棉花，却紧张地反复摸着他的脸和头发。
麦克走到那个人旁边说："小偷就是他！
”就这样，偷棉花的人被抓住了。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
narration saved locally, offline — from https://download.mandarinbean.com/audio?source=aHR0cHM6Ly90cmFmZmljLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vbGVhcm5jaGluZXNlL0NhdGNoaW5nX1RoaWVmX1dpdGhfV2lzZG9tLTMwNjcubXAz&filename=Catching-Thief-With-Wisdom.mp3&signature=ebd2fb2be59856afd1f90d2ffb3b2fb9baba30b32f73f1c58da00401864b871e
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 一天 | yī tiān | one day; a day |
| 晚上 | wǎn shang | evening / night |
| 一 | yī | one / single / a (article) |
| 个 | gè | classifier for people or objects in general |
| 农夫 | nóng fū | peasant / farmer |
| 看见 | kàn jiàn | to see; to catch sight of |
| 人 | rén | person; people |
| 拿 | ná | to hold / to seize / to catch / to apprehend / to take |
| 着 | zhe | aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great / older (than another person) / eldest |
| 包 | bāo | package / wrapper / container / bag / bundle / packet |
| 东西 | dōng xi | thing / stuff / person |
| 向 | xiàng | towards / shortly before / formerly / always / all along |
| 邻村 | lín cūn | neighboring village; a village nearby |
| 跑 | pǎo | to run / to run away / to escape / to run around (on errands etc) / (of a gas or liquid) to leak or evaporate |
| 去 | qù | (after a verb of motion) movement away from the speaker; (after certain verbs) detachment or separation |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number) |
| 二 | èr | two / 2 |
| 天 | tiān | day |
| 发现 | fā xiàn | to notice; to become aware of / to discover; to find; to detect |
| 原来 | yuán lái | so, actually, as it turns out |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only) |
| 自己 | zì jǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 的 | de | possessive particle (of; 's) / modifying particle (used after an attribute to modify a noun or to form a nominal expression) |
| 棉花 | mián huā | cotton |
| 被 | bèi | used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, if the doer is not mentioned, before the verb) / (sarcastic or jocular) used to indicate that the following word should be regarded as being in air quotes |
| 偷 | tōu | to steal / to pilfer / to snatch |
| 于是 | yú shì | thereupon; as a result; consequently; thus; hence |
| 他 | tā | he; him; his |
| 就 | jiù | in that case; then |
| 找 | zhǎo | to try to find / to look for / to call on sb / to find / to seek |
| 聪明 | cōng míng | intelligent; clever; bright / acute (of sight and hearing) |
| 弟弟 | dì di | younger brother |
| 麦克 | Mài kè | (name) Mike; Michael / (prefix) Mac-; Mc- |
| 商量 | shāng liang | to consult / to talk over / to discuss |
| 该 | gāi | should / ought to / probably / must be |
| 怎么办 | zěn me bàn | what's to be done |
| 想 | xiǎng | to think (about) / to think of; to devise / to think (that); to believe (that) |
| 然后 | rán hòu | then; after that; afterwards |
| 把 | bǎ | (used to put the object before the verb: 把[ba3] + {noun} + {verb}) |
| 都 | dōu | all; both; entirely |
| 邀请 | yāo qǐng | to invite |
| 过来 | guò lái | to come over |
| 参加 | cān jiā | to participate / to take part / to join |
| 舞会 | wǔ huì | dance / ball / party |
| 在 | zài | (of sb or sth) to be (located) at |
| 上 | shàng | (noun suffix) on; above |
| 对 | duì | towards; at; for / concerning; regarding |
| 大家 | dà jiā | everyone |
| 说 | shuō | to speak; to talk; to say |
| 不好意思 | bù hǎo yì si | to feel embarrassed / to find it embarrassing / to be sorry (for inconveniencing sb) |
| 昨天 | zuó tiān | yesterday |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 哥哥 | gē ge | older brother |
| 而 | ér | but (not) / yet (not) / (indicates contrast) |
| 今天 | jīn tiān | today |
| 小偷 | xiǎo tōu | thief |
| 却 | què | but / yet / however / while / nevertheless / even though |
| 来 | lái | to come |
| 你们 | nǐ men | you (plural) |
| 看 | kàn | to see; to look at / to read / to watch / to visit; to call on / to consider; to regard as / to look after / to treat (a patient or illness) / to depend on / to feel (that) / (after a verb) to give it a try / to watch out for |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive / to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point) / (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point) |
| 现在 | xiàn zài | now; at present; currently |
| 脸 | liǎn | face |
| 和 | hé | and; together with |
| 头发 | tóu fa | hair (on the head) |
| 还 | hái | still, still in progress, yet |
| 沾 | zhān | to moisten / to be infected by / to receive benefit or advantage through a contact / to touch |
| 呢 | ne | (sentence-final particle) indicating that a state or situation still holds |
| 这样 | zhè yàng | this way; like this; so |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | to not have |
| 紧张 | jǐn zhāng | nervous / keyed up / intense / tense / strained |
| 地 | de | -ly / structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct |
| 反复 | fǎn fù | repeatedly / over and over |
| 摸 | mō | to feel with the hand / to touch / to stroke / to grope / to steal / to abstract |
| 走 | zǒu | to walk / to go / to run / to move (of vehicle) / to visit / to leave / to go away / to die (euph.) / to change (shape, form, meaning) |
| 那 | nà | (specifier) that; the; those / (pronoun) that (referring to persons, things or situations) |
| 旁边 | páng biān | side; adjacent place |
| 就是 | jiù shì | exactly; precisely / only; simply; just / even; even if |
| 抓住 | zhuā zhù | to grab hold of; to capture |